I'm interested in the whole corn oil in milk issue as I could hardly believe that organic dairies would use corn which is often genetically modified. I emailed a dairy I really like, Harmony Organics, http://www.harmonyorganic.on.ca/ (they promise to treat their cows like family ) and asked them about this question---they do currently use corn oil. However, they are considering switching to something that is non-GMO. In the future, they might use a sunflower oil carrier.....which wouldn't be so good for sunflower-allergic people!

It would make more sense to use a "milk fat" as the carrier...that way it would keep it in the same family of allergens. Or, if this is not possible, use several different carriers and LABEL them on the container. That way, those of us with allergies could avoid the milk containing our allergen.

I bet that the amount of vitamin A in the milk has to be standardized and inspected and that dairies just aren't in the business of processing "vitamin A, palmitate" so they have to get it elsewhere. I would bet that milk fat is less stable. It does sound like this particularly dairy didn't want to use corn and it took them awhile to find an alternative. I think that dairies should have the option of not adding anything to the milk as long as they label it clearly. We can get our vitamin A and D from other sources. I agree that in either case the ingredients should be labelled!

Eldi, I hope that you can have yogurt. As far as I know, yogurt doesn't have to have vitamin A added. I buy yogurt that has really simple ingredients: milk, bacterial culture--that's it.

I have contacted the company (can't remember the name off hand) that manufactures the Vitamin A Palmitate used in Dairies throughout the world. I asked if it would be possible to use another oil for those of us who are allergic to corn...but I got no reply. I have also spoken to a representative at Health Canada about this but was told that I could NOT react to corn oil because there is no corn protein in it. I'm afraid I DO react to corn oil. So much for milk...I now use unfortified organic Soy milk.

As for labelling...I am still very upset about the use of unlabelled corn oil in milk. It took me many years to figure out the source of my reactions since I am not allergic to milk. I react to yogurt even if it is organic (with no additives). I think perhaps because a lot of cultures are grown on a corn medium. I am highly sensitive. Sigh...corn is in everything!

I would never have even thought of yogurt containing traces of corn!
That must be really frustrating to be told that you *can't* react when you do. A similar debate surrounds the issue of peanut oil---although the official line is people shouldn't react because refined oil doesn't contain any protein (although on a lot of allergy websites they seem to hedge on this issue), there is one study where the researchers noted that there is quite a lot of anecdotal evidence about reactions (even anaphylactic reactions) to refined oil.

Last edited by Helen on Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

It's only been in the last ten years or so that I have become hyper sensitive to corn and corn derivatives. I used to be able to tolerate small accidental exposures. I can tell within 4-6 hours if I have eaten any corn or corn derivative because I break out in large, hard, painful cyst-like skin eruptions that take weeks to heal. It used to be much easier to avoid corn than it is now. I read somewhere that 95% of what you see in a typical grocery store has some form of corn in it...needless to say, I spend a lot of time in the fresh produce section!

It's funny...how would I have ever suspected that there was something I was reacting to (i.e. corn) in the milk I was drinking if I "couldn't" react to corn oil. The Dairies I spoke to confirmed my suspicions. I tried to explain this to the guy from Health Canada and he didn't have an answer for me...doh!

I thought I'd share this in the pre-Christmas season:
While this toy did not cause a reaction I am concerned that a child with a corn allergy might have a reaction (I assume that baby powder contains corn starch).
There was no warning on the label of this toy.
Last year our daughter was given a Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas.
As she opened it a strong odour of baby powder filled the air. She reared up and ran away from the box saying "Stinky baby, stinky baby, my asthma is going to kick up!"

Does anyone get open sores in their mouth from corn? Hello, I have a three year old son who when he was born had collic for ten months. He's had two surgeries for tubes in the ears and adnoids taken out. January 2005, he started to get open sores in his mouth and at times it looked like his tongue was chewed up. It was so bad that he wouldn't eat for a week and sometime wouldn't drink. The doctors said it was a form of herpes. I was so upset, I changed his babysitter, speach therapist and it still continued on and off every three weeks till October. Thats when I got a small blister on my tongue from a popcorn shell. From that day on I stopped giving him any corn or popcorn. Since mid October until yesturday he had not one blister. This morning it was back. Would you suggest taking a three year old to an allergist for testing? You would think that I could ask a doctor this question, however, the doctors in my area stink and are on the most part worthless unless you have a typical ailment that is common.

I've never heard of open sores from allergies, but it makes sense to me that that could happen.....can people get eczema on the inside? I believe that it is difficult to tell when kids that young have an allergy because they are too young to articulate what is going on. My allergies generally start with an itchy/stinging throat/mouth (but that isn't the only way allergies can start).

--------------------------------------------
A recipe idea for the corn allergic:
Since I've stopped eating corn, I've been missing homemade pudding. Tapioca pudding isn't quite the same. So I tried making pudding with tapioca starch and it is more like regular pudding--although I must say that it is a bit gluey. I like it, though! (one has to stir the liquid ingredients in second and stir constantly while it is cooking or else the tapioca clumps together. The results are variable depending on how much tapioca starch one adds---I don't really measure so I'm not sure. I'd say that b/n 4-7 tbspns for 3 cups of liquid should do it. Even if it doesn't turn out, it still tastes good.) This pudding can be made with rice milk too.

Last edited by Helen on Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

I had my daughter tested for corn a while ago. She was having strange small hives and I thought that was the only common ingredient in the foods she reacted too. Turns out that her reactions were probably from a products with a product that failed to have proper a "may contain" warning. (It was margarine that did not contain milk, but shared equipt. and was poorly labeled.)

Any ways, my allergist said that true corn allergy is really rare. In many cases of people who react corn, it is infact that they have a soy allergy. Corn can be contaminated by soy at "farm level" when soy crops and corn crops are alternated and share swathers and other farm equiptment.

I'm allergic to soy---so I would consider that I could be reacting to soy, except for the fact that I've also reacted to corn on the cob. Even if the corn is harvested with soy, I would expect that the husk would provide some protection against cross contamination. Also, I did test allergic to corn on one scratch test.

My allergist told me that a while ago, the corn growers of the US had hired him to find someone truly allergic to corn...and not soy. He said that he searched, and tested many many people but could not find anyone that it seemed to be an issue with the corn itself and not the soy.

In addition to the farm equiptment, grain trucks etc., corn is mainly grown in the US, and the crops also can get cross polinated by bees, kind of the same way people allergic to birch can not eat hazelnuts, cherries, peaches (i think that is right). It was a while ago that we had this conversation. Since my daughter eats soy all the time he figured corn allergy was unlikely. Even the corn present in the scratch test was corn grown in fields near the presence of soy crops.

Maybe I have found that person he has been looking for for so long, you should call him. He said that he searched for someone for years and never found anyone.

I have been severely allergic to corn my entire life...and I have absolutely no problem with soy (unless of course it has corn derived flavouring or vitamins in a corn oil carrier added to it). I drink organic, unfortified, unlfavoured, soy milk.

My reactions to corn are very visible...within 4 - 6 hours I will develop a severe rash and also develop large, hard, painful cysts on my body that take months to heal. Some people on the avoiding corn forum also speak of mouth sores, bleeding gums, etc. Everyone seems to react differently to corn.

Okay, it's official. I have a corn allergy. saskmommy, you are welcome to mention me to your allergist. If he wants more info., I could give him my contact info. and perhaps that of my allergist. I had a positive SPT earlier . . . the RAST came back positive too.

Last edited by Helen on Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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